Burns, Tenn.—American OEM held its third annual Staff Appreciation Lunch at the Turney Center Correctional Facility, the company’s manufacturing location, July 14. The celebration was created to recognize the efforts of the company’s 200 offender workforce and correctional officers for their hard work, and to ensure they feel a part of the American OEM family, according to the manufacturer.
During the event management staff served the offenders a home cooked meal prepared by Todd Braun, American OEM’s COO. In order to feed the crew, Braun and a team of other employees worked for three days to barbecue over 300 pounds of meat.
“Serving the staff is our way of showing them their tremendous efforts throughout the year do not go unnoticed or unappreciated,” said Doug Van Nest, vice president of manufacturing. “They are fundamental members of our team and without them we could not be successful.”
Last year’s celebration included a motivational talk by U.S. veteran, Christian Brown, who has the company’s hardwood floors installed in the smart home he received from the Gary Sinise RISE Foundation. This year, American OEM highlighted key production milestones and showed the workers and Department of Corrections staff a snapshot of company activities from other areas of the business.
“It is important to show our team how the job they do every day ties into other parts of our company and help make us successful,” explained Allie Finkell, executive vice president. “Product photography, displays with our products at retail and seeing the final product of trade show booths they built in the plant provide them with a big picture perspective they would not otherwise be exposed to in their role.”